Bill Vandergraph’s Union County mugshot from 2010 arrest
UNION CO., Ill.—The fate of a former pastor at an Alto Pass, Illinois, church, has been determined after four years of waiting in Union County.
Bill Vandergraph, 76, the former preacher at Full Gospel Pentecostal Church in Alto Pass who was also a school bus driver, was charged in July of 2010 with Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child, and two counts of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse (Class X and Class 2 felonies, respectively.) The allegations were that he had sexual conduct with a 4-year-old between January and April of that year; there’s no information to indicate whether this was a male or female child.
Since that time, his defense counsel has pushed a “fitness to stand trial” defense on the case, stating that Vandergraph’s mental health is at issue and he shouldn’t stand trial on the charges because of it.
Yesterday, a decision was reached regarding that fitness: Vandergraph would not go through a trial, nor subsequently to DOC, but instead he would be turned over to the custody of the Department of Human Services, for a term of 51 years. This follows a finding in court that were he to have stood trial, he would have been found guilty as charged; but because his mental health is at issue, DHS is a better place for him…basically for the rest of his life: 51 years in that facility, and registration as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Authorities are saying that this provides closure for the victim’s family.
There’s been no indication of where Vandergraph will spend his term.